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25 years ago today, the Tigers posted a milestone win in franchise history. No one knew it at the time, but it was a key moment for the club.

On Aug. 6, 1988, the Tigers topped the Red Sox, 4-2. So far, so what. That doesn’t mean much.

It was their fourth straight win, and pushed Detroit 23 games over .500. Okay now we’re getting at it. You see, 23 games over .500 (66-43) would be their high water mark on the season. They’d stumble the rest of the way, dropping 31 of their last 53.

They’d tie that mark twice over the next week, but never surpass it. Then they stumbled down the stretch in 1988. A disastrous 1989 campaign would come next, as they dropped 103 games. The Tigers muddled about for the next several years, before collapsing with a 109-loss season in 1996. After a few more dismal seasons, the team lost 106 in 2002 and then staged their AL-record 119 loss season in 2003. Things have improved for them since then, but they are still a long way from 573 games.

After their weekend sweep over the White Sox, the Tigers stand 269 games over .500 (8,892-8,623), not even half of their peak.

Their low point in recent times was the end of the 2005 season. They stood at 8,221-8050, 171 games over .500. Thus from 1988 to 2005, they were 400 games under .500 (1,169-1,571), which is a .427 winning percentage. That’s like a team going 69-93 per season, which is an impressively bad stretch for a 17-year period.

The Tigers have been over .500 ever since early 1908. That makes sense. They were typically a very good team. They weren’t the Yankees, but then again the Tigers were the only team to never finish in last the entire first half of the 20th century.

Given that it’s the day the franchise record peaked, the pitcher is an appropriate man – Doyle Alexander. The Tigers got him in the 1987 pennant stretch in an all-time great win now versus win later trade. Alexander was a fantastic pitcher for the Tigers down the stretch, but to get him Detroit had to give up a young arm with a big upside: John Smoltz. So yeah, it makes sense that Alexander is the man on the mound for a win just as the sun starts to set on the Tigers for a generation. And that moment happened exactly 25 years ago today.

Day-versaries

1,000 days since longtime voice of the Seattle Mariners, Dave Niehus, dies of a heart attack.

1892 Jack Stivetts throws a no-hitter in an 11-0 Boston win over Brooklyn.

1892 The Pirates’ all-time franchise record bottoms out at 206 games under .500 (491-697).

1902 Against rookie Indians pitcher Otto Hess, the Washington Senators lay down 14 bunts, three of which he misplays, and four others go for errors. The other half goes for sacrifice hits. Cleveland wins anyway, 7-6 in 10 innings.

1903 In Philadelphia, part of the Baker Bowl collapses, killing 12 and injuring over 100.

1906 The Red Sox are shut out for the fourth straight time, losing 4-0 to Cleveland.

1908 Johnny Lush throws a shortened game no-hitter, six innings in all.

1912 Inspired by Ty Cobb’s suspension earlier this year, 288 players found the Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players of America, an early attempt at a player’s union.

1914 Rabbit Maranville hits a walk-off home run against Babe Adams for a 5-4 Boston victory over the Pirates. It’s Maranville’s fifth career home run and the first one to clear the fence.

1928 Carl Hubbell allows the only walk-off home he’ll ever allows, and it’s just the third home run he’s allowed. Del Bissonette hits it

1929 Babe Ruth ties a personal best with seven RBIs in a game. It’s the third of four times he does that. He homers twice in today’s game, as he does in all of his seven RBI games. One of his homers is a grand slam. He’ll hit another one the next day.

1930 In the Texas League, Gene Rye of Waco gets three home runs in one inning. His team scores 18 runs in that frame, and he drives in seven of those runs.

1933 200-game winner Paul Derringer has his best career game. The Reds pitcher throws a 12-inning, three-hit shutout for a Game Score of 99 in a 1-0 win over the Cardinals. There is some personal vengeance on the day for Derringer, who’d been traded by St. Louis to Cincinnati earlier this year.

This will be a rare moment of glory for Derringer, who will go 7-27 this year. That record comes despite Derringer pitching adequately; he just has historically bad run support, including a stretch during which the Reds will be shut out in four consecutive Derringer starts.

1933 Pinky Higgins hits for the cycle.
1935 Normally a star on the mound, today Dizzy Dean is a star at the plate as he hits a walk-off homer in the 10th inning for a 6-3 Cardinals win over the Reds.

1937 The Boston Braves begin the game with back-to-back leadoff homers by Roy Johnson and Rabbit Warstler. It’s the first game to begin like that.

1947 Aging Indians pitcher Mel Harder has the worst start of his career: 1.2 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, and 0 K for a Game Score of 7. Opposing pitcher Fred Hutchinson homers off him. Harder will pitch just four more times before retiring.

1949 Frankie Frisch manages his 2,000th game. His record is 1,036-947.

1949 Johnny Mize lays down a sacrifice bunt, the only one he ever has after May 1942.

1949 For the first and only time in his career, Phil Rizzuto gets two home runs in one game.

1950 A year after his only two-home run game, Phil Rizzuto joins the 1,000 hit club in style, going 4-for-4 for the first time in his career with two doubles and a triple.

1952 Satchel Paige tops Virgil Trucks, 1-0 in 12 innings, and after the game says, “Man, I’m 100 years old, and I can still strike out these guys.” It’s a complete game for the ageless wonder.

1953 Harry Hanebrink hits a walk-off, bases-loaded triple that scores all of Milwaukee’s runs in a 3-2 Braves win. There have been only six three-run walk-off triples since then.

1953 Ted Williams returns to baseball after serving in the Korean War. He pinch hits today and pops up.

1954 White Sox ace pitcher Billy Pierce balks for the first time in five years.

1956 Baseball pitcher Ralph Terry makes his big league debut. He’ll be on the mound for the last pitch of two World Series Game Sevens. He surrenders Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off homer in 1960 to the Pirates, and he gets Willie McCovey to line out to clinch a 1-0 Yankees win in 1962 over the Giants.

1959 The Orioles and White Sox have an epic, 18-inning marathon that ends up a 1-1 tie. Billy Pierce tosses 16 innings for Chicago, allowing 11 hits and three walks while fanning seven. Hoyt Wilhelm pitches 10 innings in relief for Baltimore, allowing just two hits and three walks while fanning seven. Pierce’s Game Score is 100. Wilhelm’s WPA is the second-best known WPA for a reliever: 1.319.

1989 It’s the last time any team has a reliever last eight innings in an outing. Scott Sanderson does it for the Cubs, and gets stuck with the loss in a 5-4 game against the Pirates that lasts 18 innings.

2008 In just his second career start, Pittsburgh’s Jeff Karstens retires the first 23 batters he faces.

2010 The Braves retire No. 11 for Tom Glavine and then lose to the Giants, 3-2 in 11 innings. The Giants score the tying run in the ninth despite not getting a hit and then get the winning run in a hitless 11th inning. The ninth features a walk, a sacrifice fly, and two errors. The 11th features two unintentional walks, an intentional walk, and a sacrifice fly.

2012 The Astros pull off the worst defensive play in memory. With a runner on base, the batter tries to bunt him over—and that’s when the fun begins. The first baseman and pitcher collide when they both go for the ball, and the third baseman nearly runs into both of them. (He has to jump out of the way). When someone finally gets the ball, it’s thrown into right field. The runner scores and the right fielder throws the ball away trying to get him at the plate.

2012 A “fan” is arrested in Busch Stadium. He directed his laser pointer at the eyes of the Giants pitcher and then the Cardinals manager. He’s caught as he’s throwing the laser pointer in the trash.

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3 Comments on "25th anniversary: Tigers reach their all-time peak"

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Dennis Bedard

Question: when was the first time the phrase “walk off” was used? I grew up following baseball closely in the 60’s and 70’s. Back then it was called a game winning hit or home run. Because that is exactly what it was. In the past 5 years I keep hearing “walk off.” Very quaint. But where did that verbal contraption come from? Any answers?

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4 years 1 month ago

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Chris Jaffe

Dennis – I first heard it about 10 years ago. ESPN used it. I liked it and have used it since. I guess others have to. It’s a play that lets you walk off the field victoriously, so walk-off win describes it pretty well.

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4 years 1 month ago

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Dennis Bedard

Fair enough. But I am a traditionalist. You can talk about world wars, political philosophy, economic catastrophe, and even bad movies, but I define the beginning of the end of Western Civilization as we know it when the (G——D—-) Astros introduced AstroTurf. Another point: the only team that “walks off” is the losing team! The “victorious” team is in the dugout and they run, not walk, to celebrate at home plate. A nice sound bite but I dissent.